If you know me, you know I can go a little Clark Griswold this time of year.  I love the holidays and spreading a little Christmas cheer.  So here are a few of my favorite downloads, dusted off and repackaged for Windows 7.    With apologies to my friends in the southern hemisphere, I'm keeping the Winter Fun Pack naming convention ;).  So this year I'm super-sizing my blog post on fun PC projects with features that are simplified by Windows 7.  Please note that this is not an official release from Microsoft, rather something I like to do for fun.  So here goes:

#1 NEW: Add a Winter Desktop Theme to Windows 7

This combination of Winter wallpapers and sound effects are sure to warm your heart and will be familiar to those who installed the Windows XP Winter Fun Pack back in 2003 as this is a re-release, simplified by Windows 7.  I tried to take care not to overdo with the sound effects but you'll find a few little additions I think you'll enjoy.  To install, just run the .themepack file on your Windows 7 desktop.  The wallpapers are set to change every 30 minutes, but feel free to choose your own.

Download Winter Desktop Theme for Windows 7 via Skydrive (5MB):

#2 Add a Yule Log Visualization for Windows Media Player to Windows 7

This was one of my favorites and the good news is that it's been tested and works great with Windows 7.  Watch as the Yule log flares along to your favorite holiday music in Windows Media Player.  A bit of trivia - we commissioned Frog Design to create this back in 2003, inspired by years of the 24 hour Yule Log on WPIX 11 in New York on Christmas Eve/Day.   Little did we know then what a classic it would become. 

Download Yule Log Viz for Windows Media Player via Skydrive (1.9MB)

#3 Quickly get to Holiday Autoplaylists with Windows 7

Another oldie but goodie - unzip these playlists to your default folder (e.g. My Music) and Windows Media Player will create playlists based on holiday music in your library.  Not only good for finding the music based on common keywords, but also for removing those tracks from your library after the holidays.  In music mixology, nothing is worse than "Jingle Bells" in the middle of a 4th of July party.  You'll find playlist selections including "All", "Fresh Tracks" for music added in last 7 days,  "One Audio CD Worth" and "One Data CD-R Worth" in the mix for holidays of multiple denominations.  To install, just unzip into your My Music\Playlists folder.

Download WMP Holiday Autoplaylists via Skydrive (15.5KB)

#4: Create a Holiday Trivia Slideshow with Windows Media Center and Windows 7

A few years back, I built a pack of trivia questions as slideshow images that could be used as a slideshow on Xbox 360 or Windows Media Center.  Organization is now simplified with the Slideshow creator built into the Windows 7 Media Center - Pictures feature - just pick your Pictures, add the trivia questions and music, and you're set for your next holiday party.  Trust me, friends will ask how you did it.  You can learn more here at my original post.

Download Christmas Trivia Pack #1 (.zip, 3MB)

Except for the Desktop Theme, most if not all of the above should work on earlier versions (XP, Vista) but some of the features are easier/more intuitive on Windows 7.  In the coming week, I'll post additional clips here as well as my own How To for a cool Holiday outdoor display I'm doing this year created with Windows Live Movie Maker and powered by Windows 7. 

If you like the Holiday add-ons, please let me know in comments here and tell your friends.  Happy Holidays everyone!

At the Windows Media Center event at CEDIA this week, Microsoft announced what many enthusiasts have been waiting for with baited breath: a relaxing of restrictions which made Windows Media Center less attractive to existing PC owners or enthusiasts building homegrown PCs.  The announcements included:

• Digital Cable Tuner (DCT) support for all.  Up until now, you could only get a digital cable tuner for your PC to work on a pre-built PC from manufacturers such as Dell or HP.  PCs needed to be pre-qualified by CableLabs in what was a process that left a lot of enthusiasts unable to support digital cable on their PCs.  Soon, anyone who builds a PC will be able to enjoy digital cable tuning.  I'm sure ATI is happy as well as one of the premier builders of  cable tuner hardware.
• TV Portability. As one who has two DCTs on my HTPC, I can relate to the frustration that has existed when trying to copy that content to a portable device such as my laptop or Zune.  Programs such as local television flagged as "Copy Freely" (CF) will now transfer.  I can confirm this works, I've seen it in action.
• SDV Support. This doesn't mean much to consumers other than ensuring future aggravations are avoided.  As cable systems move to "Switched Digital Video", as a means of managing their clogged networks by pushing a live feed on an empty channel when a consumer requests to view the network vs. blindly broadcasting all networks on all available channels.  The problem is it requires new hardware to talk to the cable operator and request the channel. 
• New ATI DCT Firmware for Vista and Windows 7. The new firmware (yet to be released) by ATI for their Digital Cable Tuners will enable the above support.  I can also attest that this new firmware will bring smiles to Media Center fans as I've seen it running.  You can expect improvements to the update experience as well - stay tuned for more.

Additional discussion is going on over at TheGreenButton.com.  Details on availability haven't been released yet, but I think we can all expect to see good things October 22nd.  Hopefully this quells concerns about the future of digital cable support in Windows 7.

This got me to thinking - a Windows 7 Media Center builder party in the Seattle area around October 22nd could be fun. 

As I've switched our main media room DVR over to Windows 7, I've been increasingly interested in finding new add-ons.  After messing around around with Seesmic Desktop and searching for MediaCenter tweets by other users, I stumbled upon the Media Center Status Application by Jussi Palo, an add-on for Facebook and/or Twitter that serves two purposes:

• Share your Media Center status (what you're listening to, watching etc) via FB or Twitter status
• Pop notifications of status updates made by friends via FB or Twitter

Setup
Setup was relatively painless though required a reboot.  I installed the 64-bit version on Windows 7 and one reboot later was off to the races.  I can't vouch for Vista, but expect it will work without issue.

Windows 7 Tip: If you run into access errors committing Media Center Status settings, re-run the configuration tool in Windows Vista compatibility mode. 

Sharing your Status

Now the first question you have to ask yourself is do you really want to be sharing what you're listening to/watching on a regular basis with Twitter and Facebook, a practice that's likely to get you quickly de-friended.  Fortunate the application gives you the ability to confirm updates automatically - probably a good idea if you're cycling through songs quickly or want to avoid others making fun of your ABBA afternoons.  You can also disable status updates based on specific media types. 

My suggestion: Turn on Confirmations so you're not auto-spamming your friends and taking a few moments to consider what you're sharing.  Here are some examples of what others can expect to see via Twitter:

and Facebook:

Receiving Status
Receiving Friends' status notifications are pretty straightforward.  You can configure to only receive messages at certain times of the day, or from certain friends.  There's no way to respond to the Tweets or Facebook status, and no other visual app integration in Media Center outside the status popups and confirmations.  Still, if you have a small set of friends you want to monitor status on, the utility is there. 

It's great to see others building interesting apps merging Windows and social media platforms like FB and Twitter.  Let me know below if you've seen other apps to consider.

If you've been keeping up with the Windows 7 beta, you've probably noticed that Windows Media Center has really been focusing on fit and finish across the platform making it quite possibly the best DVR on the market.  Two features for me really, make the TV features sing: Color-coded program categories and extensibility to support station logos.  Here are the categories:

• Green   - Sports
• Purple  - Movies
• LtBlue  - Kids & Family
• Orange - Special
• Yellow  - News

Turning on Color-coded Categories

This feature is actually really easy to set. To turn it on, go  into Settings>TV>Guide Page Options, and click the first checkbox option to "Apply colored backgrounds to shows, based on their category". You'll also notice the ability to set channels by name, a useful feature if you can never remember the numbers or your cable operator keeps moving the lineups around (or both, in my case).

Adding Channel Logos into the Guide

Next up is My Channel Logos for Media Center. I consider this to be one of the first, and most useful PowerToys exclusively for Windows 7, courtesy of some enthusiasts from The Green Button.com.  This add-on plugs in the network logos for most major networks directly into your EPG.  It also enables you to create/add your own custom logo for channels.  The application effectively extends this feature in MediaCenter by placing the appropriate logo file in a cache.  MediaCenter finds the cache and updates.

Of course, your mileage may vary, especially with Beta on beta software.

Last night, Microsoft unveiled the official Microsoft Store online in the US, offering direct purchase of Microsoft products online, including the largest library of Microsoft digital downloads.  Additional countries will be coming soon including UK, Germany, Korea, Japan, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

If you're looking for an Xbox 360 or accessories for the holidays, Microsoft published games like Gears of War 2, Lips, or Zune devices and accessories, this is a great place to start.   With Xbox 360 bundles starting at $199, there are some good deals to be found.

Tip of the hat to Brandon LeBlanc at the Windows Experience

My old buddy Charlie Owen has posted an outstanding overview of Windows Media Center in Windows 7.  This oft-overlooked feature is getting a number of refinements. While PDC is focused on developers, there is a lot of goodness happening here.  A few of my favorites:

• Turbo Scroll- an essential for those of us with large libraries
• Refined Album Art Presentation
• A great new Now Playing view with animated album art
• Shared Libraries - yep, that's right - navigate Photos, Music, Video and even Recorded TV stored on other computers in your Home Group
• Pictures with Ambient Slideshows and Ratings - more needed refinement
• The Slideshow Creator - Now just give me the ability to order the photos to tell a story.
• For Video, H.264 playback out of the box.  Yes, you heard that right.  Even on Media Center Extenders.
• Bookmarking for videos so you can return to where you left off.
• HD Pivot in the Movies Guide

Kudos to the Media Center team.  Apparently I need to start testing again.  Time to dust off my old(er) PC for some Windows 7 goodness.  Beta can't come fast enough.

Ahh yes, Olympics frenzy is upon us.  The time when countries cheer on their athletes in games of sport and goodwill.  It's also a time when companies cheer on their contributions to the Olympic efforts and services available to keep tabs on the event which is lining up to be the largest streamed event in history.  Since we're Addicted to Digital Media around here, it wouldn't be the Olympics without a roundup of the ways you can keep tabs and this year it's much cooler - with thousands of hours of content available in HD streaming on the Web for Windows and Mac users, perhaps for just a few weeks we'll see some peace and harmony.  Unfortunately for my friends outside the US, these services are specific to the USA so apologies. 

So, here's the roundup:

1.  Olympics Tracker in the new MSN Toolbar

What: This isn't your old MSN Toolbar.  Generally I cringe at installing any toolbar app into my browser, but this new version is both functional and visually slick in part thanks to being built with Microsoft Silverlight.  You'll find an Olympics button that presents the latest medal count, photos, video and sport-specific news right from the comfort of your web browser. The button even glows when updates happen to notify you in a polite way.  Alternately, Live Search is optimizing search results to include latest stats, news, and medal counts.  Details available here.

How to get it: Visit www.newmsntoolbar.com and download the free toolbar.

2.  Live and HD On-demand Events on NBCOlympics.com

What: So you forgot to set your DVR to record that amazing football game, or want to watch live coverage but it's not being broadcast on the myriad of NBC/Universal TV stations?  Have no fear - NBC and Microsoft Silverlight are bringing over 1000 hours of live and on-demand Olympics coverage to your PC or Mac.  On-demand coverage will use a brand-new adaptive streaming technology capable of true HD-quality video over the Web - no stopping and buffering either, the technology automatically adjusts video quality to available bandwidth.  Live events are presented using the Emmy-award winning Windows Media technologies.  Be sure to check out the enhanced player - in the Control room you can stream up to four events - at the same time! 

How to get it: Visit www.nbcolympics.com/video and check out the new player.  Note: Silverlight is a required installation for the experience.

3.  Windows Media Center on Windows Vista Premium & Ultimate

What: If you have a Windows Vista Premium or Ultimate PC, you can watch NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, an Internet-delivered catch-up TV service from NBC Universal powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic platform, no TV-tuner required. This free download-and-play service differentiates Windows Media Center as the platform with the highest-quality Internet-delivered Olympics experience in the USA. No word yet on whether this works via Extender - I will have to try it later.

With NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, you will get:

• NBC Sports’ complete on-air HDTV coverage of the Beijing Olympics on the NBC, USA and Universal networks – even when you don’t have a TV tuner for your Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate PC
• 225 hrs of long-form Olympics video over 17 days
• 24 sports, full opening ceremony, and a closing ceremony montage
• Up to HD quality, with the vast majority of the video delivered in 840x480 progressive scan resolution at 1.5 Mbps bit rate, plus several events per day delivered in 1080i resolution

How to get it: Click here for details or here for the TVTonic app  Note: for 64-bit Windows users, hang tight- there's an update going through certification that should provide support before the games actually begin. 

There are a host of other ways to get the Olympic experience as well. Google has a summer games page and mobile page and I'm sure to have missed some others.  Tell us what you think- how will you be watching the Olympics?

Dell just released the new Studio Hybrid- a "first step" in a series of eco-friendly PCs.  Noting that most tower PCs use about 300 watts of power (which I can attest to with my quad-core behemoth), the Studio Hybrid sips less than 65w and is 80% smaller than a Mac Mini desktop.  Add Blu-Ray, HDMI out, an 8-in-1 card reader and tuner option (including Digital Cable) and this looks like a winner.  Even in the processor department, a 1.73 Dual-core, 1GB of RAM, and 160GB HDD w/ Vista will set you back only $499, beating back Apple on performance, size, price and a run at style. 

I hope Dell succeeds with this design and I'm now drooling over it as a possible HTPC or Windows Home Server.  This may also make a great replacement for my father's ailing WinXP system.  I worry about fan/drive noise though- any in the wild reports/feedback are appreciated.

More at Electronista

Power Pack 1 fixes the data corruption bug as well as delivers significant new functionality including:

• 1x64 support for home computers running Windows Vista
• Home Server Shared Folder backup
• Improved remote access experience
• Improvements to power consumption and performance
• Localization support for Japan and China

HP has also started pushing an update to their Windows Home Server powered HP Media Smart products timed to coincide with Power Pack 1.

• Update Package
• Release Notes
• Team Blog

Congrats to the Windows Home Server team.  I really like WHS and would run it instead of Vista Premium + Drobo as my primary home media hub if they'd support Windows Media Center & OCUR recording as a service.  Then I'd truly have a headless home media server that does it all (as I sit here dealing with my wife's system requiring a backup...)  How would you improve Windows Home Server after this release?

Courtesy of Dave Zatz, TiVo is indeed pushing out support for H.264 for TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD owners (requires hardware support, sorry Series 2 owners).  New service features include accessing YouTube, and CinemaNow will reportedly be available soon as well as the 2.4 update enables.

No official reports if this update will allow you to stream H.264 content from your home network though it would be a wise thing for TiVo to enable for enthusiasts.

• TiVo Press Release
• Zatznotfunny
• TechCrunch
• CNet

In other news, Amazon.com is (re)launching their online store for movies and television called "Amazon Video on Demand" according to this NY Times article.  This is a smart branding move on their part - most consumers (and industry types) understand the concept of VOD, and "Unbox" requires more explanation.  Amazon's service will offer streaming and while it wasn't in the announcement, I'd expect this new update to work its way into the TiVo shortly where Amazon Unbox already exists.  It's been confirmed to be available via Sony Bravia Internet Video Link but at $300, I'm skeptical this will have mass-market appeal.

Ian Dixon locks on to Charlie Owen (of the Media Center team)'s new post discussing DVD Streaming from a Media Center PC to Media Center Extenders such as Xbox360.  Many have lamented the fact that the same theatrical releases are available in streamed from via PPV, Amazon, NetFlix, iTunes, Xbox Live, PS3 and others, but if you own a physical copy, you cannot stream it around your home.  The same holds true of personal DVDs you burn but in that case, most enthusiasts can rip the DVD (legally) and keep it on our HDDs in a matter of minutes.

While Charlie's post (and mine) should not be interpreted as insight into future features in Windows Media Center and do not represent any formal position of the Media Center team, Charlie outlines a number of speed bumps to delivering a comprehensive DVD streaming solution.  The legal issues alone would make this highly prohibitive at a time when the industry is moving to direct digital (vs. physical-digital) distribution.  Is it a niche feature?  Depends on your perspective.  Personally I'd like to see the MCE team first address codec support issues (my Vista MCE still can't stream home movies captured on a Canon Powershot to my Media Center Extender but can playback fine on the PC).

Lots of discussion happening on this on Charlie's blog.  Feel free to post your thoughts over there.